


Fever Dream

by fictionalportal



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 01:05:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3590508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalportal/pseuds/fictionalportal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla is sick, sort of. Why the stupid werewolf dream? Featuring doting girlfriend Laura. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fever Dream

The werewolf was gaining on her. It had been following her for hours, sprinting behind her in the woods. Despite her supernatural endurance, Carmilla was starting to get tired.

She knew she had to come up with a plan to bore the creature of the chase. She had considered climbing a tree, but werewolves had claws. It wouldn’t be so easy to dissuade her chesnut-furred pursuer. 

Instead of trying to throw off the snarling werewolf, Carmilla had decided to simply outrun it. However, its yelps were getting closer. Carmilla could see the fur reflecting red in the brilliant sunlight--suddenly they weren’t in a forest anymore. 

Flat, unnaturally pristine ground stretched in front of her. There was nowhere to hide and no shelter in sight. She sensed that there was no shelter--period--for miles and miles and miles. Her dream landscape had become an endless, inescapable expanse of nothingness. 

The sky was pale gray and the ground was barren, textureless. It was neither dirt nor grass: certainly not a natural environment. Carmilla pressed on. Forward, she thought, but the hellscape was like a desert in it infinity. 

Every part of her body burned. Her bare feet, her uncovered arms, her exposed stomach. The once faint, now growing sensation of dehydration made her skull feel too tight around her brain. She couldn’t run for much longer on her swollen feet and aching calves. 

Suddenly the red beast was running next to her. She only saw a mane of bright hair sprint ahead, traversing the strange ground faster than her own legs could carry her. She tried to push harder, use up her super-speed and strength, but the creature was too fast. 

Carmilla stopped running when she heard something. She hadn’t heard anything, not even her own monotonous footfalls, for the duration of the dream. Someone was talking to her. 

“Carm?” The voice sounded confused. Shocked, even. 

The werewolf spoke with a slightly nasal, female voice. It turned to face Carmilla. “At least she’s reliable when it comes to skipping class,” it said derisively.

“She’s sick, Danny,” the first voice reprimanded the second. 

Carmilla recognized the first speaker and her eyes snapped open. She saw Danny sitting on Laura’s bed. The werewolf’s eyes had glinted the same blue-green that Carmilla could only bring herself to describe as “menacing.” 

Carmilla attempted to shoot an angry look at Danny. Who did she think she was, sitting on Laura’s bed? Unfortunately, Carmilla’s effort at intimidation was preempted by her inability to keep her eyes from shutting. 

“I’ll see you in class,” Danny said, standing when she noticed Carmilla was awake. 

“Yeah, see you Monday,” Laura said, stepping from the kitchen to sit on her bed after closing the door behind Danny. 

Carmilla’s eyes threatened to close without letting her see Laura. She would have submitted to sleep had she not felt a hand on her forehead. She forced her eyelids to separate, squinting at the figure kneeling next to her bed. 

“How are you feeling?” Laura asked. 

Carmilla frowned, mostly at the worried tone in Laura’s voice, but also at the sudden wave of vertigo that told her she was quite possibly free-falling upwards. Carmilla felt her eyes cross and she blinked them closed. 

“Have you eaten all day?” The worry was intensifying. Carmilla forced herself to stay awake to ensure Laura would stop that. 

“No,” Carmilla managed to grumble. She had, in truth, been asleep most of the day. It wasn’t unusual for her to sleep until the early evening, but by the lack of light entering the room through the window it was evidently much later than 5 pm. 

Laura had left her side, apparently, and had gone to fetch the carton of blood from the fridge. Carmilla’s whole body started spinning when she felt her head lift off the pillow. 

“Dammit,” Carmilla muttered. The blood helped with the dizziness, but it also made her feel very warm. She shrugged her sheets off and rolled over slowly onto her side, facing the other bed. 

“...Are you wearing a bathrobe?” Laura tried not to laugh as she asked. 

“I wanted to shower, but I stood up and thought I had jumped out of a plane.” 

“Is it the flu?” 

“Happens sometimes with, ah, excessive blood loss,” Carmilla explained. “Can’t really replace what I lose.” 

“Are you hurt?” Laura’s eyes bulged cartoonishly. 

Carmilla shook her head slightly. “Lady stuff.” 

“Oh--oh,” Laura realized. “Hang on.” 

Laura left. Carmilla closed her eyes just for a moment. A blink, really. When she opened them, Laura was back. She was now holding a glass of blood with a straw in it. 

“You’ve been in bed all day,” Laura remarked, concern seeping into her words. “We should get you up for a while.” 

Carmilla intended to groan in protest, but it came out as more of a resigned sigh. 

“Come on, sleepyhead.” Laura smiled for the first time since returning. She pulled Carmilla up into a seated position, supporting her under the arms. 

Carmilla exhaled forcefully, her effort completely spent by moving so much. 

“How do you feel?” Laura asked again. 

“Horrendous.” Carmilla noticed Laura’s eyes widen again and quickly tried to correct for her overstatement. “Better now that you’re here.” 

“Were you asleep the whole time I was gone?” 

“Maybe.” Carmilla felt her eyelids start to succumb to gravity. 

Laura laughed nervously. “It’s okay. You really should get up for a while, though.” 

“...wolf...” Carmilla muttered as she started to collapse back onto the bed. 

“Ooookay, maybe you should just stay in bed,” Laura said, supporting Carmilla with an arm awkwardly around the vampire’s right shouldder. She held up the glass of blood so Carmilla could recover from the latest dizzy spell. 

Carmilla abruptly fell forward, her arms wrapping around Laura’s neck. If Laura hadn’t noticed the feverish flush in Carmilla’s cheeks before, she certainly picked up on the warmth then. 

“Please don’t let her get you,” Carmilla pleaded. 

“Carm, I think you had a bad dream about a wolf or dog or something. Maybe a bear?” Laura suggested. 

Carmilla shook her head without pulling away from Laura. “The red werewolf.” 

Laura caught on more quickly than usual, which was fortunate in light Carmilla’s rapidly faltering lucidity. 

“The werewolf is gone, Carm,” Laura said, stroking her girlfriend’s lower back to calm any cramps that might also be plaguing her. 

Carmilla hung onto Laura for several minutes. Once she let out a small snore, Laura lowered her back onto the bed carefully. She kissed the vampire’s forehead. She let her lips linger in spite of the heat rising from Carmilla’s skin. Her breathing was steady, if shallow. Laura promised to check in on her every two hours or so, waking her to check in on vitals, hygiene, and need for blood. 

Carmilla had the best roommate. Period.


End file.
